Exciting Progress on My New Blog, as Well as a Few Setbacks
Today I want to tell you all about the progress I am making on my new blog, the good, the exciting, and the discouraging news too.
We are officially entering the second quarter of 2023.
There has been such a huge learning curve for me on all of this. For years, I was turning away blogging work, and now that I WANT to make money, I have zero offers. That is just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.
I know if I buckle down and write, and I BUILD another awesome blog space, the opportunities will come.
For now, they aren’t coming fast enough, but that is a lot my fault too.
So what would you like first? My good blogging news, or my bad blogging news?
Good news?
Okay, cool!
Well, the good news is that I blew my March blogging goals for gettingmyacttogether.com OUT of the water.
My goal for March was 600 page views. Instead, there were 1,194 page views in March.
Yes!!! Hurray!!!
How did this happen? Well, primarily this was the success of these two posts:
#1. Deborah Smith was One of Our Greatest Answered Prayers
I wrote this article about a friend and mentor who recently passed away from cancer. She changed our life as a family, and if you read nothing else on this site, read this.
The post was a hit on Facebook and my most read article of this entire blog ever because of who Deborah was. Even at her funeral, it looked like there were 600 people there.
If you want to read about someone whose influence can make you a better person, please read about Deborah here.
And this was my second most popular post in March:
The Time Saving Mom Book Review
This post was such a hit because the author of the book, Crystal Paine, shared my post on her channels and email list. (A big thank you to her for that!)
Also, this really was a very helpful book that I highly recommend to my readers.
If you purchase through my book link, I do collect advertising fees from Amazon.
The other good news: First Ad Paycheck & Opportunities
Because I had more page views, I was paid more for my ads. That means this month I will finally get a check in the mail from Google for $100. Wahoo! I am pretty excited about that.
Google ads are nicer than Amazon links to me because you don’t have to click on them or buy things for me to get paid. Instead, I just write, and as long as people are visiting my website, I get paid from Google to place ads on my site.
I know the ads are annoying sometimes. I try to keep them to a minimum, but it is so nice to be able to earn a little money.
Plus, I have a few children’s book giveaways planned for April!
I really love getting to give things away. Those will be on storiesofourboys.com though.
Now for the bad news……The Setbacks:
- Overthinking
- Time to Write
- Deciding What to Write
Yes, March was busy and I wrote a lot less, falling below my writing goal. Now it is April, and I am off to a slow start this month too.
Why? Well, there is a very simple reason. I have been decision paralyzed and over thinking. Ugh, I hate overthinking.
On YouTube, I have been watching SO MANY training videos about how to grow a blog. They are all about only using low ranking keywords, sticking to your niche topic strictly, and all these strategies.
But by the time I try to do any of those things, it takes me forever to even find a keyword that is low enough for a new blog to rank for. So I thought up plenty of post ideas, but none of them would “rank on Google,” so I just did not write anything at all.
But that was a ridiculous mistake.
No more paralysis by analysis.
This month I am going to throw myself into writing articles that are helpful, whether they have easy ranking keywords or not. I will try to write articles about things that people actually do search for, but I am DONE overthinking and aiming for search engine optimization perfection.
I set out hoping to write eight to ten posts in March. Instead, I wrote six.
My plan also included pinning new pins everyday, and I missed the whole last week or two of pinning.
So I have plenty of room for improvement…..
I do need to keep learning more about how to be a better blogger, of course. But it is important to just keep writing! So that is my bigger goal for April: to write, write, write.
I did get this encouraging shout out from finewhateverblog.com:
I am still enjoying the challenge of growing my blogs, which is also important.
Life is short, and I think it is so important to live it well.
March was an AMAZING month at our house.
In March, we had a teenage son decide to get baptized, and we loved being there for that.
We had family come and visit, and most of us took a day to go tour with them. That was exciting.
We threw another one of our sons a birthday party at the trampoline park.
OH! And our twelve-year-old got a turtle. So we are now aquarium turtle people.
And about the whole weight loss thing, I have good news about that too. Small, good news. I have lost four pounds.
Ha! I know a large man can lose that by skipping breakfast, but my body doesn’t work that way, so I feel good about it. Maybe I will not have to go up a pants size after all. Maybe. Hopefully.
Most importantly, I saw a video that made me realize the importance of my daily Bible time. You should DEFINITELY watch it. It is a very short video. I have been taking my Bible time way more seriously.
I also saw a video about a judgment day dream this guy had, and it has made a huge difference in my reactions to the people around me this weekend. That video comes with a word of caution. I found it spiritually terrifying. It is about judgment day after all. This video might not be one that everyone will like, agree with, or appreciate. I personally found it to be a helpful reminder that God is holy. Yes, he is love, but also he is holy and cannot bear with sin.
Listen, before watching that video, you need to know that what you do need on Judgment Day is repentance and faith in Jesus.
None of us are righteous enough to stand before a Holy God on our own, and that is why we need Jesus as our Savior.
While we are alive on earth, it is so important for us to forgive people who offend us, just as God has forgiven us. That video brings that point home for sure.
But don’t live your life in fear. Believe in Jesus, forgive and forget, let the little things go (a struggle for me!), and trust God. I think that is the very best thing we can all do in our lives.
So this weekend I have felt spiritually renewed, which I think is the driving force in our lives.
I could not be more thankful.
I linked the videos above that I found so helpful, and I hope they will help you too.
